How Dare You Steal My Father’s Legacy

"Are you out of your mind? That's ten million."

Grayson Vale kicked the chair beside me aside and jabbed a finger at my nose. Around the table, his friends looked at me like I was trash.

"It's just the research of a bedridden man." Grayson sneered. "If it weren't for Maris, we wouldn't give a single penny."

He said it as if it were obvious, arrogance plastered across his face. "Lucen, don't say I didn't warn you. I'll be at a national lab before long. What chance do you have against me? Your dad's model only really shines in my hands, understand?"

Maris Dawn gave Grayson a reproving shove, then turned to me with a familiar, bored impatience. "Grayson's right. Don't be so stubborn. It's just a model. I'll find a way to help your father. Stop making a scene, okay?"

I ground my teeth until my jaw ached. The hatred in my eyes felt like something that could be grabbed and held.

"A scene?" I spat. "I'm not asking for anything else. Return my father's AI model, and apologize to him publicly."

My stare made Maris take a step back, but she straightened her shoulders quickly. "Use some sense. Do you know how rare this opportunity is for Grayson? Your dad's situation is tragic, but do you want to ruin Grayson's future? Can't you think about me, about our future?"

I snapped. My palm connected with Maris' cheek in a hard, clean strike. The crack of it silenced the room.

"For you? You and the rest of you who climb over other people's lives to get ahead—" I didn't finish. The slap had already lit a fuse.

They swarmed me and shoved me to the floor.

Grayson planted his boot on the back of my hand and ground down. From above, he pulled Maris into his arms and, feigning tenderness, blew against her reddening cheek.

"I told you," he said, looking down at me. "You're not in the same world as him. He's an ungrateful dog."

Maris covered her face; fury and contempt in her eyes almost drowned me. "Lucen, do you really want to degrade yourself like this? And throw away what we've had for years?"

Because I loved her, I'd put up with her occasional spoiled fits and her family's snubs. But I could not swallow watching them shove my father into ruin for the sake of Grayson's career.

My father's dignity and life's work were priceless.

I fought to get up, but several hands pinned me down. Grayson grabbed an unopened bottle of wine from the table and smashed it down toward my head.

"If you so much as touch Maris," he hissed, "I'll make sure your father never wakes up in the hospital."